Change Is A Process

Now I may be the guy that lost 100 pounds in a year without any type of surgery. But let's face it: not everyone has that capability to lose weight so quickly. People will come up to me and tell that they've been doing this and that and everything under the sun to try and lose weight quickly and it doesn't work for them. I honestly don't know what to say to them. All I know is what worked for me, and I can just try to impart my wisdom on the subject. It also depends upon the way your body works, metabolism and body type, muscle mass, etc. Some explanation I can give as to how my body was able to shed the weight so quickly is my actual body type. I would be described as having a overall mesomorphic body type. This means that it's easy for me to lose and maintain weight, in the same token, its very easy for me to put it all back on. I'm naturally built to be a muscular guy, just got a little sidetracked with my first love little debbie and all that good stuff. But anywho, I advise everyone to look up the three body types and see what characteristics you can relate to. The three types are: mesomorph, endomorph, and ectomorph. Anywho, if you don't lose 15 pounds in three months, don't stress it. You're not gonna become slim & sexy overnight. It takes a lot of work. Some changes will be noticeable, other changes won't be. You're best bet is to keep on working as hard as you can to reach your hopefully realistic goals.  Change is a process.

My Weight-Loss Guru =)

    

 

So yeah, my weight-loss guru would have to be Janet Jackson. And it's not only because I'm madly in love with the woman, but I respect her discipline and work ethic for getting into shape. I also admire her honesty when she gains weight and that she undestands her triggers that can set her back a bit. All you have to do is tell her it's time to release an album or put on a concert, then bam she's back with the super six-pack. It also makes me feel better to know that even people that I look up to deal with the same issues that I do. Goes to show me that everyone has insecurities. Yeah yeah, sounds pretty cheesy, but that's how I honestly feel. I'll be definately buying her book when it comes out and get some more tips and advice from my weight-loss guru. Just wanted to take some time out and give Ms. Jackson some shine, as if she didn't already have her own.

*P.S. Will you marry me? =)*

Don't Go By the Numbers!

THEY WILL DRIVE YOU CRAZY!!!!
Don't feel like you need to stay fixated on the number you weigh or what you want to lose, because it doesn't really matter. Unless you're like morbidly obese, i'm talking jumbo JACK size then maybe the numbers matter. Health officials and doctors are always telling us we need to weigh this number, that number to be considered healthy. All that BMI stuff and whatnot, I stopped focusing on that a longggg time ago. Even after 100 pound weight loss, from 331 to 230 I'm still considered obese: What the deuce?? Bust my ass in gym everyday and eat right (mostly) and i'm still fat? Wasn't adding up to me. All those websites and articles don't take into account individuals and their diets, muscle mass, etc. It's all generalized for the mass public. This is something that could hinder weight loss success. Instead of weighing yourself every day, try once or twice a week. Also, you should start looking for little signs that make you feel comortable with your size. For example, I know when I'm on the right path when a shirt or pair of pants fits me better. I do a little victory dance as well and I sing this "woo woo, my gut is gone!!! woo woo my gut is gone!!!" Not even joking, I do this alone of course. If that same shirt starts to feel a little more snug than usual, I know I need to add some time on the treadmill and cut down on the bread (P.S. I LOVE bread). I like to see if I can fit into smaller corners around the house or my job occasionally. These little tricks and tips can go a long way, trust me. And give yourself a reasonable goal that you can meet, there's no use in being slim and sexy if you're on a stretcher headed to the hospital. A pound a week is good enough to start with. I dont remember exactly what my goal was, but I damn sure surpassed it. But not everyone is like me. Lookingback, I honestly don't get how I lost so much weight that fast.  Everybody's body is different. Take the time to understand the human body and what works or doesn't work for you on your weight loss journey.

Fluffy Relapse

(Don't wanna get back to that size over there) ----->

Getting a fatty day is one thing, having a fluffy relapse is entirely different situation. There've been more than a few occasions where I went overboard on the snacks and may have fluctuated a pound or two in weight. You may say oh big deal, but it is to me. Temptation is tooooooo strong sometimes. At school, there are so many choices for junk food. Cookies, brownies, mozzarella sticks, pie, waffles, you name it, its there. I'm a recovering snacker, so its hard to make the right choices every single day. Moderation is still a problem for me. If I do anything in my life, I tend to go overboard and snacks are no exception. On one weekend, I had about three slices of red velvet cheesecake from cheesecake factory. If anyone's had their slices, they're pretty enormous. Other times I finished cartons of Ben & Jerry's on my own. It's very easy to slip back into my old habits and I can't afford that.  I know I wouldn't let myself get to that point, but its still a concern of mines. All of these people reading my blog and telling me how amazing I am, there's a certain pressure. My boss is a personal trainer and he tells his clients all about my story and in turn they get inspired. So I gotta take care of this issue asap. When I feel the urge to munch away at some cookies, I literally have talks with myself to keep things in check. "You're gonna get fluffy again", "Not gonna fit in those clothes", and most recently I told myself to put down the cookies fatass! I'm slowly but surely getting a handle on the eating thing. No problemo, I got this!!!!!

Gotta Have a Fatty Day!

Ok, so I've been talking about cutting down on all the junk food and eating healthy. That's all good and well, but you occasionally want that sugary fix. When I began my weight loss journey, I went cold turkey on all the snacks. This isn't always neccessarily a good thing because changing your eating should be a gradual process. Along the way, I decided that I should be able to treat myself every so often. Thus, I created the "Fatty Day". You can eat whatever you want on that day, and resume your healthy living the rest of the week. One of my favorite things to snack on is cookies. It's pretty much my kryptonite. Give me some oreos and I'm a happy camper. Now my buddy Danny works at a bakery and hooks me up with cookies on the regular now. He got THAT DOUGH!!!! Also, I LOVE REESE'S anything!!!!! And I kinda have this thing for Nutella. It's just too delicious for its own damn good. My friends used to jump down my throat for bringing it up.  OOOh and ice cream too. Ben & Jerry's Dulce Delish got that good stuff man. Strawberries and caramel hmmmmmm. I'm having a bit of a snack attack writing this out so I'm gonna take care of that...

Thin Is NOT In.

                                                                                      (oh yeah she's baddddddddd -____-)
    Hello people, so this following post was inspired by one of those lose-weight quick pills. I won't say which one cuz I don't wanna get sued. Anywho, their catchphrase was the beautiful gem: "Thin is in". I watched with the -_________-  expression on my face. No seriously, it made my face that long. If we didn't have enough people throwing up and starving themselves, that will definately get a few more to doing so. I think that the whole being thin thing is more than played out. It warps people's perceptions of themselves. Makes you feel like there's something wrong with you or that you'll never look good enough to be on tv. Here's a shocker: It's not real!!!! You are fine the way you are, not everyone is meant to be stick thin. It's ok to be a little bit on the healthier side. I had to make peace with this myself. At one point, I wanted to be on that Usher/Trey Songz level with the six-pack and whatnot. But that may not happen for me. I'm genetically predisposed to be on the fluffy side. The fact that I lost as much weight as I did goes against everything. Somewhere down the road, I realized that I might not get the six pack and may have to live with my little chubby chub belly. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna try my hardest to work it off, but I can live with it and have the 50 cent fat abs. Slowly but surely, everyone will come to accept and love their body image. If you honestly believe whole heartedly that you need to change that, then do it the natural and healthy way with exercise and smart eating. Diet pills and all those fat burners are not a good look, too many side effects: diarrhea, irregular heartbeat, may cause death or heart attack. OR DEATH???? Death is not a side effect, its death. Cut the crap please. Self-love is hard to achieve, but once u do, your outlook on life will be a happier one. I know from personal experience.

Under Pressure

Being the founder and captain of the Slim & Sexy Campaign is no easy task to take on. I'm always feeling pressure to remain the size that I am. I feel that if I gained some weight, people would give me that look like "damn what happened to you"? "You letting yourself go huh"? These are everyday thoughts that are swirling around in my head. I workout in fear of getting fat again. I honestly, sincerely do NOT wanna go back to the way I used to be two years ago. There was a point in time where I was completely obsessed with whatever food I was putting in my mouth. I lived off of special k bars and water for a few weeks. Staying slim & sexy was that important to me. I knew it was stupid to put myself in that kind of risk but at the time I could care less as long as I would be skinny. I would go to to the gym and routinely get dizzy and I'd have to leave and get myself together. Stupidity at its finest (and that's not a good thing at all). I still have those moments to this day, where I feel like that fat kid that everyone made fun of. The years of being teased still screw with my mind. It's pretty safe to say that I'm the shyest conceited dude around.  Sometimes, I call my normal sized friends fat or make fun of their bodies. Definately projecting my insecurities onto others. I don't even wear certain shirts in public anymore because I feel that they make me look bigger than my actual size or they don't fit me too well. I can be in complete and absolute pain and still force myself to go to the gym for a crazy workout. It's a constant battle. People are probably thinking that I'm just spicing this up to get more readers but its the absolute truth. As a matter of fact, that's where my problem lies: I give too much attention to what I think other people are thinking about me. That sentence doesn't even sound right but you all understand what I'm getting at. Slowly but surely, I'm winning this battle. Right now, I'm at the point where I can say that I like myself and who I am and what I look like. Hopefully one day, I can get to a place where I can say that I love myself and truly believe in that statement. Until then, I'm gonna keep fighting these head games and build up some of that self-esteem. After finishing this post, I really feel that people are getting a little piece of the real Vaughn. I'm always the loud, outgoing, chill dude. When in actuality, I have issues just like everyone else and I'm ready to confront my demons head-on.

No I'm Not A Crackhead!!! but....

Ok this is something that really annoys me about losing weight: People just wanna assume that I'm taking drugs to slim down. Seriously????? You can ACTUALLY lose weight by eating healthy and exercise *GASP* what a frightening concept!!!! I have not once nor will I ever smoke crack in my life. Whitney said it best: "Crack Is Wack". So let's just get that out of our heads right now. I'll admit though at one point, I did look a little crack-ish. The problem was that I lost so much in such a relatively short period of time, my body needed to adjust to this smaller shape. My friend Phreddy is going through the same dilemma now. He lost a noticeable amount of weight and now we all call him a crackhead. I think it's mostly a black thing. I've noticed that when black people lose weight, it automatically goes to the crack smh. Let's get smart people. But I will be honest, I have used different pills I'm gonna say about five months ago. I tried Force Factor and some green tea fat burners. This is longgg after my initial 100 pound weight-loss, so I don't want anyone thinking i've been popping pills for the past two years. I said I was gonna be honest in this blog, and that's part of the story. Neither of those products did not work for me and was a complete waste of money. That further reinforced the fact that all you truly need is healthy eating and exercise, and that's what I'll continue to do for the rest of my life.

I Got A Big Ego, Such A Huge Ego...... and I Can Back It UP!!!

So um yeah, ever since I got on board with the Slim & Sexy Campaign, I guess u could kinda sorta say that I joined the conceited side of laugh. I mean just because I like to take pictures of myself and look into mirrors constantly do I HAVE to be considered conceited and self-absorbed? Ok yeah pretty much, I like myself and have no problem showing it. Not to get all dramatic, but in high school, I was very shy and self-esteem was nonexistant. Didn't think too highly of myself. All the jokes and comments about the way I looked, I really took it to heart. I'm a sensitive guy, there's no denying that fact so I let all the little things play with my head. So once I started to lose weight and see the physical changes, I gradually began comfortable in my own skin. Somewhere along the way I lost the humbleness of my fluffy days and this new guy came into the picture.  Taking new pictures of myself everyday to make sure people knew how good I looked, always looking into mirrors to make sure everything was looking good. I became obsessed with my appearance and it began to annoy some of my friends. Looking back at the way I behaved last year, I don't know how all my friends put up with me. Whenever someone said I looked good, I'd reply with "Yeah I know". WHAT A JACKASS MOVE. My friend Eben would regularly call me Mr. Conceited. But I'm glad I got those reality checks every once in a while, especially from my mom. She told me that what I've accomplished was definately something to be confident about but I didn't have to say how good I looked every moment of the day. Rather I just needed to act like I got some damn sense and humility. Losing weight and looking good is a great thing but you don't need to flaunt it and act like your hot shit when you're not really all that. Just carrying yourself  with confidence and humility and the swagger will come naturally, no need to force it. I still have my moments where I say "damn I look good" but moreso I just roll with the flow and let the humility do the talking for me. The ego will always be there, but no need to have to back it up.